Band of HM Royal Marines Portsmouth

Director of Music: Major AJ Smallwood MA(Dist) PGADip BMus(Hons) LRSM RM
Bandmaster: WO1 MP Grace LRSM AMusTCL RM
Drum Major: WO2 Bug SJ Boorah RM

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2011

This year it was the turn of the Royal Marines Band Service to be the lead Band in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Ranks from Portsmouth, Scotland and Plymouth Band took part and spent the whole of August performing to thousands from across the world.

We had three main features in the Tattoo. The opening fanfare Salute to the Stands was written to celebrate the new stands which had been built this year. Before the show started every night, Corporal Laura Davis, Musician Zara Davies and Buglers Gill Forde and Mark Johnson walked up and down the stands with spanners and bolts to ‘check’ the stands and seats were still in one piece. They all looked very professional in their red boiler suits and hard hats and actually got some of the crowds rather worried. Whilst all of this was going on Corporal Bugler Jim Christopher got the crowds cheering every night. The highlight of every performance, however, had to be when our Buglers dressed up as workmen and gave an entertaining percussive introduction to the show, banging a wheelbarrow, dustbin lids and metal scaffolding bars.

After a quick change for some people, a small marching band played Sea Shanties for background music during the Gun Run. A member of the Field Gun team provided some entertainment for the Band as he puffed his cheeks and squatted whilst he warmed up. Musician Hannah Wheway played the Hornpipe and Buglers performed, in Old Time Rig, Beating To Quarters.

Our final input to the Tattoo was our display which led into the Finale. Our display consisted of Per Mare Per Terram, The Moon and the Superhero and finally Seafarers. We then set up the finale position for How to Train Your Dragon which also featured the ceilidh band, stage band and a ‘screaming’ electric guitar courtesy of Musician Andy Platt. There were only four or five performances where it rained heavily, and the stage band managed to stay dry in their booth, only getting wet on the walk back to the coach!

The bar was open in the Senior Rates' Mess in HMS Caledonia after every performance and socials were organised on some nights. Members of the Field Gun teams and some of the Scottish Dancers were also invited back to join us. The Highwaymen, who you might remember from Britain’s Got Talent, performed twice and a Dance Band and an Oompah Band also played at a night of fun and games.

Every Sunday was free for the Band and most people got a chance to go and explore the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, either to watch the many street performers or to go and see a show. On the final Sunday a social was organised involving a Miss Tattoo competition. For some reason only a few male band members entered; however some could quite easily have been mistaken for women. Bugler Mark Metelko won the competition.
The Band thoroughly enjoyed their month in Scotland. Performing in front of thousands of spectators in such a magnificent, historic city as Edinburgh is a huge pleasure, and it is also great meeting up with friends in the Band Service who we don’t get to see very often.

Musician Amy Brookes

DOM’s Award for Most Improved Player

Eight months ago our Director of Music Major Tony Smallwood set a challenge to Musician Hannah Wheway to perform a violin concerto at a concert. She accepted his challenge and selected Max Bruch’s wonderfully romantic Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op.26.

For months Hannah studied the music with dedication and determination, practising the difficult phrases to perfection. I would often enter the bandroom on a weekend to grab some equipment for a gig and find Hannah there working on her technique or repeating a challenging bar over and over.Not only did she learn to play this massive work, she also memorized it and performed it without the music at St Mary’s Church in Portsmouth to a large audience. The performance was both mesmerizing and passionate and the audience responded warmly with deafening applause at the close of the finale. The orchestra too played wonderfully on the night and the extra rehearsal time spent on this piece certainly enabled the orchestra to support the soloist appropriately.

Hannah’s performance was inspirational, and has motivated others in the Band to perhaps consider taking on a similar challenge.

For her outstanding effort Hannah was awarded the Director of Music’s award for the Most Improved Player. Many congratulations to Musician Hannah Wheway for this fantastic achievement.

Musician Matt Gregory

RM Band Portsmouth Adventurous Training 2011

For this year’s Adventure Training 19 ranks from The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Portsmouth (Royal Band) took part in surfing lessons for a week led by a local adventure events company in Bude, Cornwall.
With none of the ranks being able to surf before, lessons began on the beach in small groups. Soon everyone took to the water and attempted to put into practice what they had learnt. However, it soon became apparent that standing on a moving 8ft polystyrene board in the surf of 4ft waves was considerably more challenging than on the flat beach. Some of the spectacular falls did however entertain the instructors as they looked on. Nevertheless, with true military determination the majority of the ranks had mastered riding the white water surf to the beach by the end of day one.

Portsmouth Band during Adventure Training at Surf School

For the duration of the week, the ranks stayed in a self catering backpackers’ hostel close to the beach, allowing for extra practice after the lessons.

The week continued with further lessons, progressing rapidly with the class being split into a beginner and advanced group. Whilst the beginner group recapped the first day’s lesson, the advanced group headed further out to sea and learnt how to catch a ‘green’ wave. Again this proved great entertainment for the instructors with many fearless bails, falls and crashes. It soon became apparent why we had only been given polystyrene boards, without which many collisions could have resulted in a trip to the local minor injuries unit. By the end of the week, the majority of the ranks were riding a wave from before it had broken, along the green wave and through the white water onto the beach, then jumping off and heading straight back out to catch another.

The week was a huge success, enjoyed by all, with many wishing to continue with their new hobby. This week wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of the PTIs at HMS Nelson and the Grassroots Fund, so many thanks to them.

Musician M Hall

Golf - Deal Memorial Match

Once a year the Band Service puts together a team of young (and not so young), talented and daring golfers to battle it out against the members of Deal Golf and Country Club. Each year members from across the five Bands travel from all parts of the country to participate in this prestigious golf competition, the Deal Memorial Match. This one day competition has been running for many years and despite our very best efforts each year we rarely walk away with a victory, but nevertheless we return ever hopeful!

The morning begins with coffee and bacon rolls which is always greatfully received after the excesses of the night before. As tradition dictates, the first group tees off with a left-handed golf club, which is always entertaining to watch, mainly to see the Principal Director of Music, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Grace, make a fool of himself! With everyone watching and trying not to disturb him mid swing, the Colonel pings his drive straight out of the middle of the club and as we watch the ball hurtle 200 yards down the centre of the fairway he admits to all the practice he had put in for the day’s left handed start. With all the groups away safely the battle begins and though we put up a valiant fight, the home team was once again victorious.

This day is very important to everyone involved as it is a tribute to the eleven Royal Marines Band Service personnel tragically killed at the Royal Marines School of Music on 22 September 1989.

This competition is a gathering of new and old friends that will hopefully continue for many years to come, not only to remember our colleagues who died, but to maintain the connection between the Band Service and the glorious town of Deal.

Musician Pete Dolby

Royal Marines Band Portsmouth 6 A-Side Football

This term, the Band’s 6-a-side football team were crowned the Portsmouth ‘Goals’ 6-a-side Football League Champions after a nail-biting finale to the season. Going into the final day of the season the team were level on points with their rivals, Strada FC, and they were also equal on goal difference.

In their final game Strada FC faced a weak side, who were second from bottom in the League; we knew Strada could potentially beat them by a substantial margin, which they did, winning 7-1. This meant that we needed to win our game by more than 6 goals. Faced with a much more capable opposition we momentarily felt as if the task was beyond us.

To our relief the opposition had fielded a tactically weak side and our slick passing and relentless pressure cut through their defence like a knife through butter, and by half time we were up 5-0.

Perhaps with a hint of complacency, we started the second half rather sloppily and a miscommunication between our otherwise impenetrable central defender and goalkeeper resulted in a costly, though somewhat comical, own goal. This mishap reignited our drive to win and inspired by our captain, Musician Matt Green, the team shifted up a gear. We piled on the pressure and, thanks to the accuracy of our striker, Bugler John Sumner, the goals started flying in. With shots bombarding the opponents’ goal the referee took pity and blew his whistle for full time. We had won 10-2 and were the league champions. We all hit the town that evening to celebrate.

Throughout the season many players featured in a game or two, but the most consistent performers were Musicians Matt Green (Captain), Mark Hall (Vice Captain), Peter Dolby, Timothy Button, Joe Kemp, Buglers Perry Lawrence and John Sumner and Corporal Jase O’Brien. Our fantastic kit was kindly funded by the Royal Marines Band Portsmouth.

Musician Mark Hall

Joiners and Leavers

Another long and productive term has seen many personnel changes in the Royal Band. Joining us we have Jason and Emily O’Brien from Plymouth Band. Fresh out of Training, having successfully completed their M3 examinations at the Royal Marines School Of Music, are Musicians Russ Baker, Hannah Baker, Matt Collis and Doug Keyte. From Collingwood Band, Musicians Kirsty Flew, Ali Gray and Greg Norton make the short trip to join us here in Portsmouth. All the way from Scotland Band we welcome Bugler Kerrie ‘Silkie’ Silk to the Royal Band Corps of Drums.

We briefly had the company of Band Corporal Brian Lloyd and Musician Jonny Rendell as they joined us to perform with the Herrick 14 Showband that toured Afghanistan in August 2011; many thanks to both of them for their outstanding work in the Band during the tour.

Leaving the Band from our Bass section is Band Corporal Phil Case, off to Scotland, and Musician Phil Davies heads to Plymouth. Also off to Plymouth Band is Musician Gwilym ‘G’ Davies. Band Corporals Phil Trudgeon, John Lether and Mark Upton leave temporarily to complete their three month long M1 course; the very best of luck to them in their studies. To CTCRM Band we lose Musicians Lucy Chappell, Dave Hernon and Georgina Robertson. Finally, we said goodbye to Musician Charlotte Webb who joined Collingwood Band in September 2011. A very warm welcome to all of the new joiners here at the Royal Band and to the leavers the best of luck with your new assignments.
Musician Matt Gregory

Operational Music

By Musician Matt Gregory

Foreword by Major A J Smallwood RM - Director of Music
Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Band Portsmouth (Royal Band)
Last year it was proposed that in addition to the CTCRM Band deploying on Herrick 14 as part of Joint Force Med Group, RM Band Portsmouth would also provide a group of musicians whose mission would be to provide bespoke musical support in theatre, whilst at the same time promoting the UK’s contribution to the overall ISAF mission. Tasked with leading this musical deployment and utilising the experience and knowledge of Colour Sergeant ‘Rasher' Bacon who served with Jt Force Med Gp on H9, I decided that a 15 piece ‘Show Band’ using a male and female vocalist able to perform in Main Operating Bases, Forward Operating Bases and Patrol Bases would fulfil the task in hand. Following meetings in PJHQ, recces in Camp Bastion, Kandahar, Kabul and Lashkar Gah, and Pre-Deployment Training and rehearsals in HMS Nelson, the ‘Show Band’ deployed to Afghanistan in August.

The following article by the Lead Guitarist of the Band Musician Matt Gregory is a personal account of our Deployment.

For months, rumours had been buzzing around the Portsmouth Bandroom of a trip to somewhere far away, hot and sunny. However the destination was not quite as appealing as all that sounds. Fifteen members of the RM Band Portsmouth (the Royal Band) had been selected to fly out to Afghanistan for just under a month to entertain the coalition troops. As a 15 piece ‘Show Band’ the mission would see us traipsing through the varied terrains of Longmoor Camp on pre-deployment training, scrambling aboard Chinook helicopters carrying heavy boxes of equipment, travelling by road in Kabul and coming under enemy fire in Kandahar.
As I mentioned at the very start of this article, the rumours were buzzing long before the actual confirmation came of the deployment to Afghanistan, with the aim of taking 15 musicians into a warzone and transporting them up and down Afghanistan. An extremely valuable reconnaissance mission by Colour Sergeant Bacon and Sergeant Naughton, plus meetings with various Officers, yielded the desired outcome and the Band was given a three and a half week slot commencing August 4th 2011.

So this was it. After spending much of the year with a vague possibility of deploying it was actually going ahead.

The Band had a relatively short amount of time to get their affairs in order leading up to the deployment. There were all sorts of medical elements that needed attention such as injections, malaria tablets and various documentation that had to be completed. New kit was issued to everyone; it was like joining up again with the amount of new kit that I was issued! All this kit needed trying on to check for size, then naming and finally getting Royal Marines Band Service shoulder flashes sewn on at the tailors. Personal affairs such as life insurance and wills also needed taking care of; this is not to mention two weeks pre-deployment training in HMS Nelson.

The pre-deployment training package is mandatory for all service personnel deploying to theatre and provides them with the basic drills and skills that are expected of everyone serving out there. It was staged over two weeks with the first week being completely classroom orientated and the second week out in the field at Longmoor Camp in Hampshire.

The first week consisted of many interesting presentations and lectures pertinent to our forthcoming deployment. During this week we were issued with our body armour (Osprey) and shown how to assemble it. The Osprey is rather heavy when fully assembled and to give us a little taste of things to come the training team took the class out on a quick march around the dockyard and HMS Nelson. This was a welcome break from the classroom and allowed for a bit of bonding with members of the course that we didn’t know.
The second week saw us pack our bergans and board the coach to Longmoor Camp. During the 40 minute journey up the A3 I found myself breaking out into a cold sweat, suffering flashbacks of my not too long ago basic training package. Soon enough we arrived at the camp and were shown to our accommodation where we were to spend the first couple of nights. The first two days we were taught our skills and drills that had been covered before in the classroom, but this time on a practical level. We covered contact drills, where you are a member of a small section that comes under enemy fire and you have to respond appropriately given the situation. We learned how to find IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices) using a type of metal detector called a Valon. IED’s are the biggest danger out there and the counter-IED training is the main focus of the pre-deployment package. We also covered drills on what to do if your vehicle comes under fire, which for me was the most thrilling part as you sit inside an armoured Land Rover completely blinded to the outside world waiting to hear the crack of a rifle being fired at you.

On the last two days we were placed into ‘tactical’ mode whereby we were to live in a custom built FOB (Forward Operating Base) and perform all manner of tasks as if in the real operational environment.
The class was divided into smaller sections and all took turns going out on missions, standing guard in the sangers and many other complex scenarios. One of the most difficult elements of the package was when we had to run to another FOB that was under fire and tend to the many casualties inside whilst others had to fight back. The TV crews from the local news team were filming as we tried to remember all our first aid drills which did not make it any easier!

The pre-deployment package was extremely well taught, and it is always an immense pleasure to work with Royal Marines Commandos as their subject knowledge and professionalism is second to none.
With pre-deployment training done and dusted, now came the reality that we were deploying in just over two weeks and had, as of yet, not done any rehearsals with the new Band. After a well earned rest over the weekend Monday morning arrived and we were straight into our first rehearsals. The Band worked extremely hard over the next two weeks, under the direction of Major Tony Smallwood, refining a diverse set of popular music totalling at least thirty songs.

At the end of the two weeks’ rehearsals the Band took an extended long weekend leave before saying goodbye to family and friends and hitting the road up to Brize Norton.

An overnight stay at Brize led to a very early morning rise for our flight, which ended up being delayed by several hours. We eventually boarded the plane, stopping at Cyprus for an hour before carrying on to Camp Bastion.

The descent into Camp Bastion was unlike any landing I have ever experienced. All the lights were switched off and all shutters to the windows closed. Helmets and body armour were donned and in pitch black we sat in silence whilst the plane made a rather steep angle of descent into the airfield.

On arrival at Camp Bastion everyone shuffled wearily across the tarmac and into a huge reception tent. We filled in some forms, received a welcome brief and collected our baggage and rifles. From here the Band was met by Sergeant ‘Smudge’ Smith who showed us to our accommodation. The accommodation is all made up of large tents that connect to each other to form what they call a pod. The whole thing is fully air conditioned and has heated showers and flushing toilets. It really is a marvel of modern engineering that you can live in this relative luxury in such a desolate place.

The first two days of our tour were spent completing a training package (RSOI) that all newcomers to the base and theatre in general must complete. The first day was another very long day of lectures and powerpoint presentations. With the combination of a very long journey, jet lag and the high temperatures, many attendees were caught out by the sleep inducing effects of such a day!

The second day was spent on the ranges where we zeroed our weapons (adjusted the sights by shooting at a target) and sat through some more lectures on first aid, law and local cultural awareness. The Sergeant in charge of teaching us the medical aspect was an extremely humorous character who had a penchant for throwing Ribena (other blackcurrant squash brands are available) all over his subjects as a blood substitute – Musician Johnny Rendell caught the brunt of this after ‘volunteering’ to be a casualty for demonstration purposes.

On the ranges I bumped into Musician Jamie Wardle, a good friend from my troop (and fellow Euphonium and Cello player) who was out in Afghanistan with members of CTCRM Band performing their military role as part of Joint Force Medical Group. The fantastic work that these men and women were doing out there under the command of Captain Richard Harvey deserves a mention in this article. It was great to see some of them during our time at Camp Bastion, and it was a shame not to be able to see more of them, but we all had very different jobs to do and our schedules afforded little free time.

On completion of RSOI the Band were excited at the prospect of getting into some serious rehearsal time and somewhat apprehensive as to whether our instruments had survived the journey. After once seeing what the climate in Dubai had managed to do to my cello, I was slightly worried for the health of my immaculate, brand new ‘Musicman’ electric guitar. Thankfully all the instruments were ok, but we did have to wait an anxious extra day for the arrival of some of the other equipment which had been delayed somewhere along the line.

Our first rehearsal saw us setting up in the same building where we had attended the lectures on the first day of RSOI. After setting up all the gear, we ‘blew out the cobwebs’ with a few songs. An hour or so into the rehearsal, Hal Stewart from the British Forces Broadcasting Station (BFBS) turned up with his sound engineer and asked if we would mind recording a few tracks and have them broadcast live on air. We quickly decided on several songs to play and the sound man set up all his microphones and mixing desk. Everyone in the Band quickly switched on and gave stellar performances and the recordings came out very well.

Our first show was in the ward at the Role 3 hospital in Camp Bastion. We took a smaller version of the band as the ward was fairly small and a 15 piece band would probably be a bit too much for the venue. The ward in which we were playing was for stable non-critical patients, but it was still rather humbling to see service personnel and even local Afghan children in hospital enjoying the entertainment whilst recovering. I remember during the sound check we were very conscious of the hospital environment and had a natural urge to play much quieter than normal, which would adversely affect the quality of the performance. A motivational address from the boss, Major Smallwood soon had us playing more confidently, and the show was extremely well received by the patients and numerous doctors, nurses and other staff in attendance.

The next day we attended the vigil for Marine James Wright, who tragically paid the ultimate sacrifice on 5th August 2011. The vigil was attended by all British service personnel in Camp Bastion and was a touching tribute to a brave Marine. Buglers James Horner and Tim Needham played the Last Post and Reveille with class and professionalism.

The next day we flew out to Camp Price, a base occupied mainly by Danish and British forces. This was our first experience flying on a Chinook. We made our way down to the Bastion airfield, known as ‘Little Heathrow’ and booked in for the flight. Our boxes of equipment were all on the back of a truck which needed offloading and placing on the strip of tarmac that you walk along to get to the aircraft. When our aircraft arrived we quickly loaded all the equipment (one and a half tonne in total) by hand; an immensely physical effort given the heat of the day. Another thing to be taken from the process was to be very wary of the exhaust emissions from the Chinook; the air that billows powerfully from its enormous exhaust system is dangerously hot, as some of us who were unlucky enough to be pinned behind boxes in the queue to get on the aircraft will report!
The flight was exhilarating – we flew close to the ground over desert, small dwellings and farms. You feel pretty exposed passing barely 100ft over the heads of possible enemy positions but you put your trust in the pilot and his crew and you get to your destination.

Members of the Band at Little Heathrow

After signing in at the Camp office and dumping our baggage at our new home for the night we were escorted to our stage. The guys at Price had reversed two gargantuan flatbed articulated trucks tail to tail as a stage. We all thought this was a nice touch and were looking forward to the show even more. The show itself was a great success, the crowd responded really well to the music and were singing and dancing to a lot of the songs.

The next day we flew out of Camp Price and as the Chinook came down to collect us, many of our boxes were blown away by the devastating downdraft; I was holding down one box, and Musician Jonny Scott was next to me holding down another; I heard a rumble and a crash, looked behind me and saw Jonny on the floor covering his head and a box tumbling in the distance. Luckily Jonny was fine, the box was ripped from under him by the force of the downdraft and it somehow flew over him and away. Another lesson learnt!

Our next destination was a small Patrol Base (PB2) in the Nahr-e Saraj region of Helmand and home to many soldiers from 1st Battalion The Rifles. The airfield was completely covered in pebbles with no tarmac to roll the boxes along so everything had to be lifted from the Chinook and this was extremely heavy and hard work. On arrival we all knew that we were in a very different place than either Camp Bastion or Price. We were immediately told to load our weapons; on other bases you carry an unloaded weapon. PB2 was much smaller and the living conditions somewhat austere compared to where we had just been. However there was a sense of camaraderie here that was not so palpable elsewhere. We were all looking forward to the show that evening when tragic news came in that one of their men had been injured by an IED; he sadly died from his injuries and it was only right to cancel the show. The band was shocked and saddened by the news and the reality of the situation out there in Afghanistan was quickly sinking in for all of us, and we knew that what we were doing was valuable and also dangerous.

A nice thing to come of that day at PB2 was that I bumped into a good friend from my troop who left the Band Service to join the RM Commandos and was serving on his first tour of Afghanistan. The chances of me bumping into him as the only RM Commando in PB2 at the time were small, we had a great chat and he entertained a group of us with stories about his work outside the wire.

In the morning we did our admin and had some breakfast then loaded the Chinook and flew back to Camp Bastion, where we were to be performing that evening. Camp Bastion is home to at least 21 thousand personnel, and whilst we knew there wouldn’t be quite that many people at the show, we rolled out our most powerful PA system with the hope of a large crowd and put on a great show.

The Blues Borther and his Sister on tour

Brian 'Elvis' Lloyd at Canada House with the author on guitar

From Bastion we made our way by Hercules to Kandahar for a series of four shows. Travelling by plane afforded us the luxury of having the equipment loaded mechanically so our backs were spared for a while. We set up for our first show in a brand new gymnasium, and during the sound check it became immediately apparent that the acoustic of the building was so reverberant, we decided to shift all the gear outside and set up there. The gig itself was going tremendously well, the crowd was singing along, dancing and cheering and the band was grooving nicely. I was mid guitar solo during a Kings of Leon number and I had my head down focussing on the notes I was playing. The next minute, I looked up and noticed everyone in the crowd was getting down on the ground “on their belt buckles”, as it were. It turns out we were under enemy fire in the form of rockets fired from the hills a few Kilometres from the base boundaries. I remember reluctantly ditching my immaculate ‘Musicman’ on the dusty, hard floor and getting down for cover. Luckily the rockets landed nowhere near to us and from what the Garrison Sergeant Major told us later they had exploded in amongst some empty buildings so thankfully nobody was harmed and we all came away with a good story to tell.

The next day we performed for the Canadian Army outside their HQ, Canada House. As we were setting up the alarm was raised after some unexploded ordnance (an unexploded military weapon such as a mine or shell) was discovered close to where we were set up. The disposal experts were called in and after a couple of hours we were allowed back into the area and we completed another great show.

During our stay at Kandahar we also played at the ‘Boardwalk’, which is a large oval shaped shopping area with an American Football field being built in the middle. The Rock Band also performed a set of their own outside the NAAFI.

We were also shown around the RAF’s impressive Tornado GR-4 attack aircraft and were given a look around their observation room where we learnt about the work they do with regards to counter IED measures using photography of the land. The tour was very interesting and our thanks go out to Flight Lieutenant Rutherford and all who made it possible for us to visit that day.

From Kandahar we flew out to Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. We landed at Kabul and we made our way by road to camp Souter. We travelled in a massively armoured, yet still somewhat civilian looking van. We played a show the next night for Camp Souter, and the crowd were very responsive, especially when a gang of Signalmen came gallivanting out in a congo-line wearing nothing but their ballistic groin protection, which looks somewhat like a nappy, but in desert camouflage material!

Our next gig was a twenty minute road trip away at the ISAF HQ in the city. We all clambered into the massive van, fronted and trailed by armoured vehicles with top cover gunners. Our mini convoy made its way to the base and it was quite fascinating to see a little bit of the people of Kabul going about their daily life, because so far all I had really seen was service personnel inside military bases.

The journey to and from HQ ISAF was a little nerve wracking as the recent suicide attacks in the city had placed the alert state at maximum. Again, you put your trust in the skill of the drivers and the gunners and also the drills we had been taught.

Sadly due to unforeseen circumstances the show was cancelled. The Band was very disappointed as were many of the large audience that had mustered to watch us. We dismantled our equipment and made our way by road back to Camp Souter. On the journey back, with it being late at night, dark and a high threat level of attacks, we were all on full alert sitting in our transport. Everything looked suspicious to us and even the driver had pointed out some abnormal looking things that could point to insurgent activity. Happily we all made it back to Camp Souter with no dramas.

The next day we made a new friend. He was a powerfully built specimen, extremely hairy and not to mention his impressive set of teeth. Volt was his name and he was an RAF Police attack dog. His handler kindly let those of us brave/stupid enough come out training with him. A group of us each took turns in donning the protective body suit and attempting to outrun the dog. Clearly this was never going to happen and within seconds Volt would have his powerful muzzle clamped around your arm and eventually down to the ground you would drop. Even through the ample padding of the suit you could feel your flesh getting pinched by his teeth and I wouldn’t want to imagine getting taken down by Volt without the suit. We all had a good laugh that morning and shot some hilarious videos, notably one of Musician Scott who was sent flying through the air by the dog.

Our next stop was the capital of Helmand Province, Lashkar Gah. The base at Lashkar Gah was the HQ for 3 Commando Brigade when they took over Task Force Helmand in April 2011. This was one of our most important engagements of the tour as we would be performing for our Royal Marine colleagues. The reception we received for our music was amazing and I think they particularly enjoyed Corporal Brian Lloyd’s fantastic transformation into Elvis Presley.

Our final show of the tour took us back to PB2 to give them the show that they had missed due to the loss of one of their men. We felt a sense of duty to provide them with a show because, of all the places we visited, this one had the least in terms of facilities and the guys work so hard that we wanted them to have a night where they could have a bit of down time and some entertainment. We took a heavily stripped down version of the Band, cut from 15 to 6 due to logistical factors, so every musician had to give all they had to pull off a great show. The crowd was extremely responsive and seemed to have a really good night, as did the band. It was by far my most rewarding moment of the tour, just being able to give the guys and girls a little bit of entertainment and a break from their normal routine.

After spending two nights at PB2 we returned to Bastion by Chinook where the rest of the band had kindly helped out by packing our kit and doing our laundry etc, in preparation for our soon to depart flight to the UK.
The Journey home was a rather epic twenty four hour affair, which saw us departing from Bastion, landing in Minhad Airfield (UAE) where we had a five hour wait for our next connection. From Minhad we flew on a civilian aircraft to Cyprus which was about a four hour flight. From Cyprus on to Hanover, Germany and finally on to Brize Norton.

On arrival at Brize Norton we collected our baggage, signed our rifles back into the armoury and boarded the coach home. On the coach most of us enjoyed a cold beer that Colour Sergeant Andy Deacon supplied for us when meeting us at the airport to collect his wife who was on the tour with us. Cheers Andy!
It was strange to see how green everything looks when you get back to the UK; after nearly a month of nothing but dust, rocks and the occasional tree or bush, our homeland really does seem pleasant.

The tour was a massive success and also a big eye opener for those of us who hadn’t been on operations before.

Portsmouth Band on tour with Lt Col 'Daisy' May
Photograph: PO (Phot) Hamish Burke © Crown

Portsmouth Corps of Drums

Welcome to the latest exciting installment from the “Royal” Corps of Drums!
Firstly I would like to start by congratulating those who were promoted this term. These are as follows:
Colour Sergeant Bugler Annett RM (Bugle Major) To Warrant Officer 2 Bugler
Sergeant Bugler Hawkins to Colour Sergeant Bugler and Corporal Bugler Brown to Sergeant Bugler

After an extremely long term the Band travelled to Scotland to participate in this year’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which I think was enjoyed by all; not only the ’social’ events (which included a stag night for Bugler Gordon) but the response that the Band (especially the Corps of Drums) received on every performance, was a highlight for all involved.

Currently we are rehearsing for RBL and Cenotaph Parade, and we are also off to film a Remembrance special of “Who wants to be a millionaire” (Caleb Brown’s medals (the ‘face’ of the Band Service) will be Shining in HD on T.V). During this busy period Corporal Jim Christopher and Bugler Callum Gordon were also called upon to perform the Last Post at Sir Jimmy Saville’s Funeral.

A very warm welcome to Bugler Kerry Silk who has joined Portsmouth Corps of Drums from Scotland and has adjusted well in getting used to wearing no1s on a more frequent basis!

Congratulations also go out to Bugler Callum Gordon who got married in September to his lovely wife Sinead. May they have a long and happy life together (from the COD).

Finally, on behalf of the rest of the branch, we hope Bugler Nathan Crossley is still enjoying his assignment/cruise onboard HMS Bulwark and we look forward to welcoming him back when he eventually returns.

A very happy Christmas and prosperous new year to one and all!

Last updated 03 April 2012